Proposal for 100 homes is pre-emptive, say councillors

PLANS for 100 homes near Watlington have been criticised by parish councillors as pre-emptive.

The council’s planning committee has objected to the proposed development on land off Pyrton Lane, in Pyrton parish, by Providence Land.

Members said there was no need for houses on the site and that the proposed Watlington bypass could be viable with fewer houses on the land or even none.

The applicant had proposed a greater stretch of the “edge road” going through the site than suggested in the draft Watlington neighbourhood plan and it would have an adverse impact on part of Pyrton Lane.

The committee also said there were “too many unknowns” with the development, especially with the proposal by the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency to build 3,000 new homes on Chalgrove Airfield.

The committee added: “There is no safeguarded area for school buildings and their playing fields to allow extension.

“There is no safeguarded area for sport and recreation land. This application is tantamount to coalescence between Watlington and Pyrton.

“The number of houses on this site would impact on Watlington over and above those allocated to the town in the neighbourhood plan.”

South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, will make the final decision.